PostWrestling.com reported that that their reporting of an ongoing lawsuit against WWE over the Endeavor purchase of the company revealed that AEW parent company Base10 placed a bid towards potentially purchasing WWE in 2023.
PostWrestling's Brandon Thurston's analysis shows that the offer in question from Khan was the lowest of four, valuing WWE at about $6.9 billion. The competing bids were significantly higher: Endeavor at $8.5 billion, Liberty Media (parent company for F1 Racing) between $8.5–$8.9 billion, and KKR (a private equity company) between $8–$8.7 billion.
Structurally, Endeavor’s bid stood out because it was an all-stock transaction, meaning investors would receive TKO shares instead of cash. The other three offers were cash deals.
Thurston noted that the non-AEW-affiliated bidders were granted access to a data room with nonpublic WWE information, which is standard in late-stage M&A. There’s no evidence Base 10 received similar access—potentially due to its lower bid, its connection to AEW via Khan, or both.
Khan had previously purchased Ring of Honor and had he been successful in bidding on WWE, obviously the entire professional wrestling industry would have changed forever.
To read their report,
click here.
